CHAPEL
HILL, N.C. - The
seventh-ranked North Carolina men's tennis team earned a 4-1 win over South
Carolina on Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Men's Tennis
Championships at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. With the victory, the Tar Heels
will move on to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and face No. 8-ranked Georgia in Athens,
Ga. on Friday at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs are
the host school for the final four rounds of the championships and go into
Friday match as the tournament's No. 10 seed.

The Tar
Heels improve to 26-5 on the season with the victory, breaking the all-time
team single-season wins record of 25 victories achieved in both 1992 and 2006.
North Carolina also advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in both of those
seasons. South Carolina fell to 16-14 on the season with the loss.

Doubles
action provided early drama for the crowd of over 140 people.

On court
two, Nelson Vick and Oystein Steiro edged the Gamecocks' pair of Andrew
Adams and Kyle Koch 8-7 (7-4) to get the Tar Heels on the board. The Tar Heel duo of Ronnie Schneider and Jack Murray then rattled off four straight games on
court two to force a tiebreaker after trailing 7-3. In the tiebreaker, the pair
of standout freshmen fought off a match point before Schneider sent a winner down
the alley that nicked the racket of a South Carolina player, giving the Tar
Heels the doubles point 8-7 (9-7).

South
Carolina junior Kyle Koch tallied a 6-3, 6-2 win over Jack Murray on court five for the Gamecocks' sole
team point.

The
doubles match on court one was halted after the doubles point was clinched. No.
25 Brayden Schnur and Brett Clark were locked up at 6-6 with South
Carolina's 30th-ranked duo of Chip Cox and Tsvetan Mihov. In singles, matches
on courts four and six did not finish.

"I'm
just really proud of my team today," said North Carolina head coach Sam Paul. "I would like to congratulate
South Carolina. They are well coached and those guys fought tooth and
nail."

The Tar
Heels will be looking for a measure of revenge against Georgia on Friday. In
the 2012 NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs beat North Carolina 4-0 in the Sweet
Sixteen. North Carolina is 7-11 all-time against Georgia.

Notes:

With
Sunday's win, the Tar Heels are now 42-17-1 all-time against South Carolina